Excerpts From: The Messenger |
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"Fill the jars with water."
I have been battling discouragement lately and feel so over whelmed with issues that at times I say to myself, “What is the point?” Life is full of disappointments, dead dreams and aspirations. Whether it's a broken heart, a broken dream, or just something that hasn't gone right, we've all experienced true letdowns in life.
When people are disappointed, and discouraged we usually try to cover it up, we look for substitutes or distractions from the pain. If you are living with discouragement today, I would like to encourage you with this thought: When you reach a place of emptiness where the disappointments run deep, you are in the perfect position for a miracle. Why? Because God can make His good come from bad times.
Many of us ride around on Goodyear tires. Did you know Goodyear tires were developed by mistake? Charles Goodyear inadvertently spilled some rubber he was working with into the fire. And he noticed when the rubber hit the fire, it made a big, calloused mess, but it was incredibly strong and durable. He turned this into the Goodyear tire! When rubber combined with heat it got messy, but it produced a strong, tough product that we now depend on to carry us around. God has the unique ability to take our messes, disappointments, and mistakes and mold them into something useful, good and beautiful.
In John 2:1-11, we read a story about Jesus' first miracles. At this particular time, Jesus was in Cana of Galilee, near Nazareth In this story, Jesus does what many of us do: He goes to a wedding. He uses the image of a banquet to make His point. Parties in that part of the world are different than our celebrations here.
A typical wedding ceremony today in Canada, lasts 20 minutes or so, and then there is a reception that lasts a few hours or is slightly longer. That's not how it was in Israel in Jesus’ time. The reception lasted an entire day, and the celebration might have lasted a week! It was quite a party.
At this particular wedding reception a problem arises. Jesus' mother is there, and she tells her Son the hosts are running out of wine. In Scripture, wine is often used as a euphemism for joy. When Jesus' mother says the wine has run out, not only is the beverage gone, but the joy the beverage represents is gone. And it would have been very embarrassing for the hosts to have no wine for their guests
.Jesus responds: by saving the day, He performs this miracle of changing water to wine. We are told in the story that there are six water pots at this wedding containing 20-30 gallons each. But those pots are sitting there empty, and no one can imagine that the solution is right before their eyes. All they can see are those six empty pots until Jesus opens their eyes to the miracle He will bring about.
Jesus says: "Fill the water pots with water" (v. 7). The servants didn't need water-they needed wine. Yet Jesus tells them to do the obvious, to fill the water pots with water. Little did they know He would take their earthly need and use heavenly means to meet it. Remember, He is the connection between heaven and earth.
Some of you reading this article have lost your joy like my battle with discouragement. The disappointment has crept up and you are tempted to bolt out of your situation. When the joy is gone, the disappointment is great, and the vessels are empty, the key element here is trust in the One who brings heaven and earth together. Jesus invites each and every one of us right now to stay. God has not lost track of His timetable. He knows what is going on and he knows our needs.
The story goes on, so they filled the pots "to the brim" (v. 7). There was room for nothing else in those pots. Then Jesus tells them: "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter" (v. 8). The headwaiter tastes it, and it has become wine. Jesus doesn't put on a big show to perform this miracle; it is almost imperceptible. His time has not yet come to make a public display of His deity. Nonetheless, he performs this miracle of changing water to wine.
The first lesson we see here is that Jesus is in the transformation business. He can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, the natural into the supernatural. If we have run out of "wine" (joy) in our life, if we are heavy-laden with disappointments and heartaches, stay in the presence of Jesus Christ and let Him change the ordinary in us. Nature forms us; sin deforms us; education informs us; penitentiaries reform us; but Jesus transforms us. He can transform a "no wine" (joyless) situation.
The headwaiter tastes the wine and does not know where it came from, but the servants know. It's amazing to notice that those who were lower in the scheme of the story knew of the miracle while the higher-ups did not. We must have the heart of a servant-willing to do whatever He asks-in order to experience His miracles. You see, the devil puts his best stuff up front so he can hook us, but God doesn't work that way. We may go through the worst, but when we are in Christ we know the best is yet to come-in heaven in the presence of God. We may think, "But my career has gone downhill" or "My marriage is failing." Take those empty water pots to Jesus and trust that the best is yet to come.
Fear is one of the emotions that God placed within us to keep us humble, I think. My mother used to say: “Fear is a thief; it will steal your today, make you dread your tomorrows. But our God is the God of your yesterday, today and tomorrow”
And whether we are battling discouragement, disappointments, dead dreams, and aspirations, whether it's a broken heart, a broken dream, or just something that hasn't gone right, God will not allow no- wine situation, or fear to steal the joy of our today.
Finally, in this story Jesus doesn't provide just enough wine for the bride and bridegroom; He makes enough for the whole wedding party. God will supply all of our needs. He is more than sufficient. We can come to Christ today and say, "Fill me to the brim. Let my cup run over because I have no wine, and I have no way to get any wine."
Jesus specializes in “no-wine” situations. There is nothing we can do about our “no-wine” situations; but we can trust in God to do his transforming work in our hearts. This miracle in John 2 shows us that Christ will fill up our emptiness with new joy. He will take our empty water pots and fill them to the brim with his goodness, mercy, grace, and provision.
“Fear is a thief; it will steal your today, make you dread your tomorrows. But our God is the God of your yesterday, today and tomorrow” May God richly bless you, have a safe and happy summer.
Best Wishes,
Pastor Samuel K King-Kabu.
Pastor@st-ansgars-montreal.caBornholm 2005
It was my mother's biggest wish - to go travelling with all her 3 children. Initially we had plans of going to Greece, where we had lived for 5 years, and where my sister, Marianne, was born. Or, perhaps to Iceland, where Mikael and I were born, and where my parents had lived for 7 years. But in January 2005 my mother had a stroke. So we decided instead that a destination within Denmark would be in order. My mother and I had spent a wonderful week in Bornholm in the scenic town of Allinge in 2004. That would be our destination! Marianne presented a gift certificate to our mother for her 85th birthday when she visited at Eastertime. All 3 of us had worked on it for weeks, so we were very excited to see how she'd take the news. We needn't have worried - she was delighted !
I and my two siblings arrived at Kastrup airport within 3 days of each other. A family re-union that my mother had planned took place on May 29 - but more about that another time.
On May 31 we drove in a rented Peugeot from Birkerød to the Øresund bridge and across to Sweden. We crossed through the southern part of Sweden, called Skåne, which had once been Danish land, to Ystad, the town where we boarded the ferry across to Rønne on Bornholm. The crossing on the Catamaran ferry 'Villum Clausen' took 1 hour and 20 minutes (the other ferry takes much longer). The distance from the closest part of Sweden to the closest part of Bornholm is a mere 40 kilometres. The distance from Bornholm to the nearest Danish land (the island of Møn) is 134 km. The flag of Skåne looks like the flag of Denmark, except that the cross is yellow, while the flag of Bornholm has a green cross on the red background. An interesting tribute to their Danish heritage.
We spent 4 days on Bornholm, and 3 nights in the picturesque B&B 'Klostergaarden' in Allinge. Klostergaarden is the oldest inn on Bornholm, dating from 1901. It is the same B&B that my mother and I stayed at last year, and it was a warm re-union with our hostess, Eddy-Britt Knudsen. Mik, as our chauffeur, drove us all over the island and we got to visit many more sights, including some that we visited last year. We have now seen the 4 round churches on Borholm, that are still standing. Last year my mother and I saw only Østerlars Church, the largest of the round churches.
This time, Mik and Marianne toured the inside, while I elected to tour the outside (Bente rested in the car). Later that day we visited Nylars and Olsker round churches. It was late in the day and they were not open, so we had to content ourselves with touring the outside. On our way to the ferry on our last day in Bornholm, we visited Nyker round church, the smallest of the 4 and toured the inside. This church has no third floor like the others do. -11 -In the 3 other churches the main floor is the sanctuary, and on the second floor is the floor where the villagers were thought to have taken refuge in times of danger. On the top floor, there are small openings where the warriors are thought to have defended the church and villagers from dangerous invaders.
Another day we visited Gudhjem and Svaneke and saw the glass blowing shops. I had occasion to chat with Pernille Bülow (in Svaneke), one of the most important glass artists on the island and asked her if she might be related to the Bülow family that settled in the Montreal area. Yes, she allowed, she remembered as a small girl that an uncle had visited them from Canada. I had learned from Henrik Langer that one of the Bülow siblings had moved back to Denmark after spending some years in Canada, and had settled in Jylland. This must be one of Pernille's relatives. Pernille grew up in Jylland and settled in Bornholm to pursue her art there. Borholm is well known as an artist's haven, and many ceramists and glass artists have settled there. Some famous Danish painters have also settled on Borholm, which is known for it's unique light. We briefly visited the museum of Oluf Høst, a renowned painter who lived in Gudhjem. The museum was created in the house that had been his home and studio. You'll find artists of many different sorts on the island, including stone artists, textile artists, jewellers, etc, etc.
We toured the coastline of Borholm and saw many of the rocky cliffs which are unique to the island. Marianne and I climbed all the way down to the shore. Mik had injured his back (trying to put my mother's wheelchair into the trunk of the car) so he quit when we got to the stones and waited on the wooden stairs. Bente was waiting at a lookout point where she could see the little boats, which picked up groups of school children to tour the rocky landmarks from the water. She sat in the wheelchair we had rented for the trip, so that she could sit when she got too tired to walk. In fact she got better and better at walking while we were on Borholm so that she often walked without her cane towards the end of our stay. Marianne also gave her several Bowtech sessions, on of which was just after our arrival in our rooms at Klostergaarden. She straightened out quite a bit and became more free in her movements after that.
We also toured the interior of the island. We visited Almindingen, the forested area in the middle of the island, which is a nature preserve. We climbed the lookout tower, 'Rytterknægten', the highest point of the island (162 m) near the centre of the island, dedicated to King Frederik the Seventh and Countess Danner in 1856 to commemorate their recent visit. Marianne and Mik were brave enough to climb to the very top, while I stopped at the level below. It was too windy for my liking and I didn't feel confident enough to take the last level. But even from where I was, I could see much of the island of Bornholm, right out to the coast.
At the hotel closest to Klostergaarden is a renowned restaurant highly recommended by our hostess. The first night only 3 of us went for dinner there (Mik was lying on the floor with his feet up on a chair to ease his back pain). The dinner was lovely, and we resolved to return. The cook gave us a bowl of his famous fish soup to take back to Klostergaarden for Mik. On subsequent nights we all came for dinner there, sometimes only for the soup. On our last night in Borholm, we had so looked forward to the soup all day while we toured the island. But when we arrived at the hotel's restaurant, they had had a kitchen accident and had closed up for the night. Marianne managed to persuade the cook to sell us a vat of his soup to take back to Klostergaarden, where our hostess, Eddy-Britt, warmed it up for us. It was a lovely end to our day of touring.
We visited the caramel factory in Gudhjem, the candy factory in Svaneke and the chocolate factory in Snogebæk near Dueodde. At Dueodde we parked the car and brought out the wheelchair for Bente. She walked it all the way through the dunes on the boardwalk and right down to the beach. She was a bit tired then, so she sat in the wheelchair while the 3 of us walked right along the water's edge, looking for shells and beautiful stones, and perhaps some amber, if we were lucky. It was a windy, cool day, so Bente was well wrapped in a blanket and coat while she sat waiting for us to come back. It was our last full day on Borholm island, so it was with a tinge of sadness that we returned to Allinge for our last night on the island. Each of us has resolved to return there again, sometime in the future. There is so much more to see and experience. For my part, I'd love to tour the coastline in a boat and to tour the island's bike paths on bicycle. And I'd love it, if my husband would make the trip with me this time. He's never been to Denmark yet. Perhaps next time???
Jette
Web Page prepared by:
Roger Kenner & Jette Blair.
Content-New Topics Last Updated: 2005/11/09
St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church - Montreal